Just wondering if anyone has tried to use this unit with the Harmony Companion remote control system? I had a quick look and can't see the A2 listed under DishTV. Thinking of buying one but it needs to be under harmony control rather than their remote.

I have the Harmony Companion but haven't tried because the A2 is using Bluetooth, may take some time.Not sure how the request system process works for Harmony?

Ok since the update 1.20 that i noticed on the 16th, this device seems to be very unstable it was just as unstable before the update. You get about 48 hours and then the PVR functions of pausing live TV recording live TV just will not work. The only way is to pull out the power plug. when you hit the pause key you get the audio prompt to tell it something. This device is so unreliable as one of its selling points as advertised does not work with any certainty. Its a box of hopes and dreams and broken promises. The box it replaced worked quite happily 24/7 for years at a time. The worst thing is I can not recommend it for any body. The app issue with the error when installing has not gone away either...

Yes I have glitchy audio with v118 and will upgrade to v120 (tho I suspect it will still exist)For me its with UHF broadcast, I get a short dropout/overlap once every minute/few minutes...Its really noticeable when music is playing.

Will be possible making my last post today about this infernal device. It seems it will only use the hard drive for about 48 hours, after that you get recording stopped when you change channel and since the last update 1.20 the remote has joined the union so to speak and the pause control brings up the audio prompt. I will be ring tech support to see what the latest excuse/hope is and from there will probably take it back from where I got the device and let them know under the consumer guarantees act it is there problem both in writing and verbally.

Will be possible making my last post today about this infernal device. It seems it will only use the hard drive for about 48 hours, after that you get recording stopped when you change channel and since the last update 1.20 the remote has joined the union so to speak and the pause control brings up the audio prompt. I will be ring tech support to see what the latest excuse/hope is and from there will probably take it back from where I got the device and let them know under the consumer guarantees act it is there problem both in writing and verbally.

Have you updated the remote firmware? I did this yesterday and then had issues. I took the batteries out of the remote and then put them back in and so far all seems to be ok. I have to say that our unit seems to be working quite well except for the 963 error and limited Playstore libary. I have not tried or have got to 48 hours of recording yet.

When you talk to tech support can you please report back to the thread on progress being made on the other issues raised in this thread as well as your new issue? It would be good if DishTV were a little more active on this thread keeping us informed of progress and what issues they are addressing in what firmware release. It will be interesting to see when the next firmware release is planbed for and what it fixes.

I just purchased and setup 2 of these boxes and having the same issues on both machines

I'm unable to watch Lightbox and OnDemand as the video lags and buffers and sometimes says "no connection" with an error message

To eliminate internet issues, I've disconnected all devices except for one box and connected just using and ethernet cable. For a speedtest I've tested this cable on my PC and I get 950mbps down and 500mbps up

Yet, this is apparently not enough for this Freeview box - the video is buffering and is very jittery even on low image quality. I've tried uninstalling, redownloading and updating the lightbox app from the google play store on the Apps menu on this Freeview Android box but the issue persists, OnDemand I can't uninstall, it's just always there but no matter what video I select the video is lagging and stuttering

Funny enough, I don't have any issue with the youtube app on this freeview box, I can play 4K 60fps video with zero issue, but some of the apps like Lightbox and Freeview OnDemand constantly lag

I bought one from Harvey Norman a few days back, it's running firmware 1.20 and also have the same issue. I am on a gigatown fibre plan and found on demand was unwatchable as was lightbox. A reboot seems to have cleared it for now but the unit feels unreliable at present. I bought it to replace Sky (which we have just cancelled) but I am concerned about this issue being a total turn off for my wife. We also had some issues with live pause while watching a programme the A2 was also recording at the time - simply could not get it to live pause. On another channel it subsequently worked.

Contacted Dish and asked for a manual was told "Freeview is currently working on a manual for this, for Android settings google has documentation on their website regarding Android TV and its functions. " which amazes me it's a product that's in the market with no user docs.

Will post other findings as I discover stuff, but am hopeful future firmware updates will fix the on demand bugs as without a reliable service it makes it a box only good for live TV

For those interested a quick work around for the error 963 app issue is:

Install an app. Let it fail (error 963). This associated the App with your android account. Reset the A2 box back to factory ( I know tedious)!

When you log into your account for the first google asks if you wish to install the app that have been associated with your account. Select Yes and they install.

Continue to set up the rest of the box. At the end of this process, I had a successfully installed version of Plex and KODI apps on the A2.

Interesting, both worked fine. I have a large media library access on a NAS via LAN. Video looked OK (i.e. reasonably good), menu's are all solid and render nicely without . 1-2s buffering at the start of any selected movie, but plays glitch free. Lightbox already worked fine. So processor wise... the A2 does actually seems up to the task. Not as nice as a Apple Gen 4 4K, but useable.

Again, if DishTV can solve the audio glitch - this will be a good box in due course! It is my understanding Netflix haven't approved the H/W (or gone through the certification process) so no Netflix App yet. If (and when) this does happen this will be a very useful box.

Does anyone in the community know how to control a Android TV box in the context of a control system? As it is a Blutooth remote sending IR commands is not possible. Has anyone successfully sent TCP/IP commands over IP. I understand this has been done for other Android TV boxes but not sure if it need a client app to be installed or whether it is a Dish TV H/W level thing. I guess I could look at figuring how to send blutooth commands via dedicated H/W but it would be much simpler to just open a socket and control it directly.

For those interested a quick work around for the error 963 app issue is:

Install an app. Let it fail (error 963). This associated the App with your android account. Reset the A2 box back to factory ( I know tedious)!

When you log into your account for the first google asks if you wish to install the app that have been associated with your account. Select Yes and they install.

Continue to set up the rest of the box. At the end of this process, I had a successfully installed version of Plex and KODI apps on the A2.

Interesting, both worked fine. I have a large media library access on a NAS via LAN. Video looked OK (i.e. reasonably good), menu's are all solid and render nicely without . 1-2s buffering at the start of any selected movie, but plays glitch free. Lightbox already worked fine. So processor wise... the A2 does actually seems up to the task. Not as nice as a Apple Gen 4 4K, but useable.

Again, if DishTV can solve the audio glitch - this will be a good box in due course! It is my understanding Netflix haven't approved the H/W (or gone through the certification process) so no Netflix App yet. If (and when) this does happen this will be a very useful box.

Does anyone in the community know how to control a Android TV box in the context of a control system? As it is a Blutooth remote sending IR commands is not possible. Has anyone successfully sent TCP/IP commands over IP. I understand this has been done for other Android TV boxes but not sure if it need a client app to be installed or whether it is a Dish TV H/W level thing. I guess I could look at figuring how to send blutooth commands via dedicated H/W but it would be much simpler to just open a socket and control it directly.

I was able to install History, CBS All Access and a few other Apps that were giving me the 963 error through the following method (advised to me by Dish TV) With this method you don't have to a factory reset. It worked well. I have tried side loading some Apps but no luck. Getting Amazon Prime Video and Music apps working would also be good. Hopefully Dish TV will have a firmware update soon (was promised for last weekend?)

To get around the 963 error and install those apps you can go into Android Settings - Storage and Reset and USB drive, eject the Drive.

Once ejected you can install apps from the store, when done installing you will need to re-power the unit to initialize the drive for recording again.

I am also of the same opinion that this isn't a bad system. Once they fix the glitches and get Netflix working OK I will be able to use it rather than swap between the ATV4, Amazon Fire Cube and the MySky/Freeview TV. The MySky recorder has been consigned to the cupboard and the Sky Subscription cancelled. Just waiting for advice on where to return it.